James Sharp

Ex-Commander James Nathaniel Sharp is the former leader of the Gemini Corporation military battalion, the former supervisor of the corporation's Alpha Regiment, and manager of his personal taskforce. He is a secondary antagonist of Someone Else, and secondary supporting character of No One Else.

Sharp plagued Matt throughout the first story, constantly hunting after his subordinate. He was initially very impressed with his skill, favouring him for Gemini missions over his self-proclaimed rival, Caine Brooke, whom he viewed as brash and lacking of the potential that the Anomaly had. He was furious when Matt betrayed the corporation, as he believed that Matt had so much more service to give, all of which went to waste when he abandoned Gemini service.

Despite this, James was aware entirely of Matt's history, specifically his close relationship with his sister, Amelia. Commander Sharp was concerned that he may ultimately leave the corporation, before his future prospects could be realised, so he schemed to cut off his connection to ordinary life and provide him with the ultimate motive to go after the Vault. Using the corporation's partnership with Hyperion, he ordered one of their assassins to infiltrate the Rye family home on Darios, and murder Matt's sister, in exchange for the kidnapping of Matt for use in Hyperion's Genisys Project. This succeeded, Amelia was killed and the Anomaly was brought to Sub-Level Thirteen on Helios for experimentation.

Commander Sharp was stationed in Lima Base One on Elpis for a time, where he headed the construction of the Bravo-11 machine, which could be used to create an artificial Vault Key. He also headed the Alpha Regiment during their time on Elpis, and oversaw maintenance and shielding of the Vault of the Dreamer after it was discovered by Gemini sometime after Matt left the corporation. Sharp was sent to force the Anomaly to open the Vault for them, and arranged the kidnapping Gaige to force Matt to do it for him.

Following the Enlightener's messing about with the commander's brain, by "shift[ing] around a few neurones", Sharp was incarcerated in Gemini's headquarters' psychiatric ward, diagnosed with mild clinical insanity and severe cognitive dissonance. There, he is being cared for by his daughter, aiding in his recovery. However, Director McCain refused to fund anything above minimum for the psychiatric department.

Early Life
Most of Sharp's early life is unknown, but he once stated that he originated from Eden-5, the same planet as Gaige, however he grew bored with the idyllic paradise it was known to be. He left the planet when he was very young, seeking some knowledge and experience, studying at Teleptia Major's major city Torra's Institute of Technology.

At the institute, Sharp met Samael McCain, a promising young student like himself, and the two became good friends. They studied together and completed a project at the end of year that introduced experimental technology, which was capable of identifying genetic diseases in offspring even before they are conceived, allowing parents to foresee some of their children's future. Both of them were awarded their majors in technology and genetics respectively. Both of them proceeded to excel in further technology studies, before finally leaving education to find their respective jobs.

Both of them ended up getting a job at an IT company on Menoetius, for work experience until they found a better job. Sharp described this work experience as "whimsical", so neither of them ended up taking up the job. Samael was also envious of Sharp for outshining him constantly on every task they were given. His work experience gave both of them a newer perspective on the IT world, and they agreed upon a different career path.

They studied in the military, specifically battle strategy, but retained their knowledge of technology and genetics.

Co-founding Gemini
Sometime later, Samael and James obtained the rights to a new organisation, which they named Gemini. It was dedicated to the "betterment of human civilisation", desiring to get involved in most of the inner workings of the Hathusis Galaxy so they could alter things they deemed ineffective. While not a major influence on the galaxy, the end goal was to enforce a new managerial regime within the galaxy, controlling its income, imports, and exports.

When the corporation gained a workforce, James was designated as the Executive Commander of the Gemini Military Battalion, owed to his experience as a military strategist. Sharp was grateful for his job, although he disliked how holier-than-thou McCain acted around him. However, Commander Sharp, as he was now known, refused to let these doubts get the better of him. Instead, he indulged in expanding Gemini's military force, notably the founder of the corporation's military battalion.

James initially wanted the organisation to be public, but Samael insisted that Gemini would remain veiled in secrecy.

Introducing Vault Hunters
Some ten years after Gemini formed, Sharp began searching for ways to separate the corporation from other organisations, of which were public. While Director McCain led the Gemini Corporation into supporting other companies, such as Dahl, James considered this to make them "blood-sucking leeches" rather than "a standalone act". Ultimately, he discovered the existence of Vaults, which had been rumoured to exist for centuries, although no Vault had been found before. However, Gemini managed to find the Vault of the Destroyer, before the Crimson Lance did, although he was unable to open it and was ordered to withdraw from Pandora by Samael McCain.

James Sharp embarked on a mission to form a new Vault Hunter Initiative, under the sanctioning and provisions of Director McCain. If they found another Vault, Sharp hoped that his new initiative would be able to use the Vaults for themselves, using the ancient Eridian technology in any way they could. The first wave of Vault Hunters were overseen by the commander himself, forming the very first group, which at the time was not designated by name.

Over time, Sharp grew the Initiative, to the point of having multiple regiments denoting class - from Gamma to Alpha, considered the apex of the Gemini organisation. Most of these Vault Hunters are unknown, but they were either retired or dead by the last iteration of the Alpha Regiment, which contained the likes of Caine Brooke and Duke Minoosh. The Initiative later included affiliations with other Vault Hunters not a part of the organisations, assigning liaisons with them, such as Axton, whose liaison was Matt Rye.

Recruiting Matt Rye
After having forged the Vault Hunter Initiative, Commander Sharp went to a bar on an asteroid to celebrate. While drinking there, he took an interest to the stories of one particular soldier serving on an already collapsed planet. He heard how this one soldier outclassed almost the entirety of the rest of his military combined, owing to the complete redundancy of the attack force in general. There also additional tales about how he was able to turn a battle that had essentially already been lost immediately in his favour, by employing a calculated strategy he had formed in the matter of minutes.

He began digging into the story at the Gemini archives, at the CCG. Sharp found nothing, so he opted to return to the bar and ask more about the story. There were many myths and rumours, most of which false, however he eventually found the name of the soldier: Matt Rye. Intrigued by Rye, he ventured to Darios. On Darios, Sharp had intervened in the Third Darosian Civil War, ending the war by aligning the remaining governments together under one unified management. Now with the war over, Matt ceased service in the Krolantian Military Order, leaving him effectively in retirement.

This prompted Sharp to locate Matt Rye, finding him in his home in Acropolis. He offered Matt a job in the corporation, working as a spec ops agent with an exuberantly high pay. To Sharp's surprise, he refused immediately, not wanting to get involved in the military or any general conflict, as he only served in the KMO to protect his sister. When James offered to provide protection for his family, and revealed his intervention during the civil war, Matt ultimately accepted and joined the Gemini Corporation.

Spec Ops Administrator
Due to his rank as leader of Gemini military leader, Sharp took to overseeing the special operations branch of the elite military taskforce. He did this specifically to view the progress of Matt Rye while he served the organisation. Sharp was immensely impressed by the Anomaly's service in the corporation, as he succeeded in nearly every task he was given and was even able to manage a few missions with major success.

James took a near immediate shine to the young man, deciding to train him himself. He introduced to him all his knowledge on military tactics and strategy, most of which Matt already knew. Although, he also taught him hand-to-hand combat, which Rye demonstrated a talent for, and eventually became an expert in fighting. Sharp also taught him useful qualities, such as beating lie detectors, resisting pain and escaping handcuffs. As a result, Matt continued to excel in the spec ops unit.

Eventually, Sharp introduced upgrades to the spec ops unit, increasing the budget to allow for more soldiers and more weaponry. The spec ops taskforce engaged on numerous missions, such as invading Lost Legion bases and Tediore supremacists. Matt was famous among the Gemini Corporation but infamous amongst his allies, the latter of which viewed his exploits as overrated and were consistently envious of the attention he received.

Vault Hunter Administrator
When Matt was promoted from special operations officer to trainee Vault Hunter, Sharp oversaw his training to maximise his potential. He relinquished control over the special operations unit over to one his equally experienced subordinates, and took up control of the Vault Hunter Initiative once again. He was provided new budget by McCain, which he allocated to better studies as a Vault Hunter, so that Matt would acquire the most knowledge and become the best Vault Hunter possible. This included teachings on Sirens, and specifically the strategy to be applied in the event of encountering them.

Hyperion learnt of Matt's existence, and asked numerous times for the corporation to hand him over, as they believed he could be put to better use. Handsome Jack showed great interest in him even before he became a Vault Hunter, however Sharp refused to relinquish him to their partnered organisations.

When Matt, now using the alias of "the Anomaly", joined the Gamma Regiment, Sharp get tabs on him carefully but kept to his duties managing the Vault Hunter Initiative. After a while, Samael McCain directed his focus on the Vault Hunter Initiative and decided to co-run it with Sharp. Both of them conspired to use Matt as their figurehead in the organisation, hoping he would ultimately be worthy enough to be promoted to the Alpha Regiment, so that their influence on the galaxy would be more noticeable for the corporations aware of their existence. Hopefully, this would open Gemini up to more options.

Complicity in the Genisys Project
That opportunity arrived when Hyperion, taking advantage of the partnership Samael had orchestrated, asked for their aid in finding a suitable candidate for the Genisys Project. Samael and Sharp both allocated resources to find the best possible patient for the corporation, in exchange for stock in the company. This took quite a while, and seemed to be going nowhere, as every patient that Hyperion used would die from the recombinant DNA procedure. They demanded for Matt, asking many times as they did before, although they insisted that he could be put to better use. Sharp and McCain were reluctant to hand him over.

While this happened, Sharp began to grow concerned over the Anomaly's allegiance to Gemini. He noticed that Matt was spending more time with Amelia, taking more breaks from the corporation, and began to show signs to wanting to retire. As the commander had not yet elevated Matt to the figurehead of the Vault Hunter Initiative, to show off to Hyperion and other organisations, Sharp resolved to never let this happen. He tried to manipulate Matt to stay in the corporation, but he failed as the Anomaly was highly resistant to manipulative techniques. He tried numerous other methods, including offering to heighten his pay and offer more protection for Amelia, however these also failed and Matt was dead set on leaving the organisation within a week.

Becoming exceedingly desperate, Commander Sharp game up with the ultimate way to prevent Matt returning to his sister - completely cutting off his connection to her. He contacted Hyperion, and arranged for an assassin to find Amelia, and murder her. In exchange for this service, he would hand over the Anomaly to the corporation so he could be used in the Genisys Project, realising that Matt was the perfect patient. Seeking to cover up the assassin's intention, Sharp ordered for him to make it seem like his murder of Amelia was an accident, and as though he intended to kill Matt.

This succeeded and Matt was kidnapped for months for experimentation. Gemini and Hyperion maintained the ruse of their rivalry, pretending that they had been given a ransom for the Anomaly's return. Sharp told the Vault Hunters in the Initiative, including Aurora, that Hyperion had claimed that any attempts to rescue Matt that did not include paying the aforementioned fee would result in Matt's death.

When Matt escaped Hyperion, and returned to Darios, Sharp attempted to contact him. However, the Anomaly threw away his communicator and shut down his ECHOear, leaving him untraceable. James spent months searching for the Vault Hunter, eventually finding him on Atrios-6 with Aurora Lux, who had been ordered to take a leave of absence there. James extended a token of good nature and offered him a spot in the Alpha Regiment of the Initiative, along with Aurora, promising him that his past misdeeds would be wiped away. However, Matt took this to be that Sharp believed the Genisys Project and his sister's deaths were his fault, and initially refused. Fortunately, for the commander, Aurora convinced him to return to the corporation.